Bus seat back trim and method and apparatus for making

ABSTRACT

A bus seat for use in a bus comprises a frame and a seat back secured to a portion of the frame. The bus seat further comprises a seat cushion secured to another portion of the frame. The bus seat also comprises a removable two piece cover arranged over the seat back, wherein the cover pieces are secured to one another with a zipper. The zippered two piece seat back cover allows for easy installation, removal or replacement of any damaged or worn portions of the seat back trim cover.

This application is a divisional of pending application Ser. No.13/307,093 filed Nov. 30, 2011

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention generally relates to bus seats, and more particularlyrelates to a zippered seam for use in a bus seat back trim cover thatallows for easy removal and installation of the bus seat back cover.

2. Description of Related Art

Bus seats have been known for many years in the prior art. Many priorart bus seats have seat back trim that is affixed to a frame of the busseat by a stapling operation to a plywood base of the seat back.Generally, this prior art methodology has been used for many years. Theprior art bus seat back trim cover sometimes results in inconsistentmanufacturing practices for installation and serviceability challenges,such as when the old bus seat back cover must be cut off and a new onestapled to the base. some of these prior art bus seat back covers alsodo not operate correctly when seat belt assemblies are added to the busseat. Furthermore, many of these prior art bus seat back trim coverstake as long as one hour to service when replacing a cut or harmed busseat back cover that needs to be replaced. Generally, these bus seatback covers are made of a vinyl material. Furthermore, these prior artbus seats also have a bus seat cushion wherein the seat trim cover forthe cushion portion of the seat is affixed to the cushion utilizing astaple gun that attaches the trim or cover to a plywood substrate. Thisprior art methodology has been used for many years wherein the trimcover, the foam and the plywood are compressed and then stapled into theform of a bus seat cushion. Many of these prior art bus seat cushionshave manufacturing practices that do not clearly define the start andstop corner folds resulting in inconsistent final appearances for thebus seat cushions. Also, many of these prior art bus seat cushions arevery challenging to service because the customer must cut off the oldbus seat cushion cover trim and then re-staple a new bus seat cover overthe cushion and underlying plywood of the bus seat cushion. Furthermore,the time needed to service or replace a bus seat cover cushion is verytime intensive and labor intensive.

Therefore, there is a need in the art for an improved bus seat back trimcover. There also is a need in the art for a bus seat back trim coverthat has a zipper arranged around an outer periphery thereof. There alsois a need in the art for a bus seat back trim cover that is easy toreplace and takes less time to replace than the prior art methodology.There also is a need in the art for a bus seat cushion trim cover to bemore easily connected to the frame and sub frame of the bus seatcushion. There also is a need in the art for an apparatus for aligningand sewing a zipper on a front and rear portion or piece of a bus seatback trim cover. There also is a need in the art for an improved processof securing a zipper to a front and back portion of a bus seat back trimcover.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One object of the present invention may be to provide an improved busseat.

Another object to the present invention may be to provide an improvedbus seat back trim cover.

Still another object of the present invention may be to provide a busseat back trim cover that has a front and back portion that areconnected to one another via a zipper.

Still another object of the present invention may be to provide a busseat cushion that uses a plurality of J-hooks to secure the trim coverfor the bus seat cushion to the frame of the seat.

Still another object of the present invention may be to provide animproved process of connecting a zipper to a front and back portion of abus seat back trim cover.

Still another object of the present invention may be to provide anapparatus for connecting a zipper to a front and back portion of a busseat back trim cover.

Still another object of the present invention may be to provide for amethod of removing and installing a bus seat back trim cover onto a busseat with the use of a zipper.

To achieve the foregoing objects and other advantages, a bus seat foruse a the bus is disclosed. The bus seat comprises a frame and a seatback secured to a portion of the frame. The bus seat also comprises aseat cushion secured to another portion of the frame and a removable twopiece cover arranged over the seat back. The cover pieces are secured toone another with a zipper.

One advantage of the present invention may be that it provides a noveland improved bus seat.

Still another advantage of the present invention may be that it providesa novel and improved bus seat back trim cover.

Yet another advantage of the present invention may be that it provides abus seat back trim cover that is made from two pieces that are connectedto one another via a zipper.

Still another advantage of the present invention may be that it providesa bus seat cushion that connects its trim cover to the frame of the seatvia J-hooks connected to an L-bracket.

Still another advantage of the present invention may be that it providesfor a process of installing or removing a front or back portion of a busseat back trim cover by unzipping a zipper or zipping a zipper.

Yet another advantage of the present invention may be that it providesfor a process for securing a zipper to a front and back portion of a busseat back trim cover.

Yet another advantage of the present invention may be that it providesfor an apparatus used to secure a zipper to a front and back portion ofa bus seat back trim cover.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention maybecome apparent from the subsequent description and the appended claims,taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bus seat back according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a bus seat back according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a back view of a bus seat back according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of a bus seat cushion according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an apparatus for securing a zipper to afront and back piece or portion of a bus seat back trim cover.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT(S)

Referring to the drawings, a bus seat 10 for use in a bus is disclosed.The bus seat 10 is for use in any known vehicle, such as a commercialbus, school bus, military bus or any other type of vehicle such asaeronautical, maritime or the like. The bus seat 10 is generally coveredin a vinyl trim cover material, however any other known fabric, such ascotton, a natural fabric, leather, or any other known covering for aseat may also be used for the bus seat 10 according to the presentinvention. The bus seat 10 may or may not include seat belts accordingto the present invention.

The bus seat 10, as shown in the Figures, generally includes a bus seatback member 12 and a bus seat cushion member 14. The bus seat backmember 12 and the bus seat cushion member 14 are arranged and securedover a frame 16. The frame 16 is generally made of a metal material,however any other known material such as a ceramic, composite, plastic,or natural material may also be used for the bus seat frame 16. The busseat frame 16 may have a sub frame 18 connected thereto, wherein the subframe 18 is made of any known material such as a plastic, a wood, anyknown natural material, a metal, a ceramic, composite, or any othermaterial. In one embodiment, the bus seat back 12 and bus seat cushion14 generally have a sub frame 18 connected to the frame 16 of the busseat 10 for the back portion and the cushion portion of the bus seat 10.The bus seat 10 also may include a foam member 20 which is secured to asurface of the frame 16 or sub frame 18 in both the back and cushionportion 12, 14 of the bus seat 10. It should be noted that in theembodiment shown foam is used, however any other known material that hasthe attributes of foam to create a comfortable bus seat may also be usedaccording to the present invention. After the foam member 20 is securedto the sub frame 18 or frame 16 via any known fastening technique, suchas but not limited to any known mechanical fastening technique orchemical fastening technique, a trim cover 22, 24 may be arranged overthe foam 20 for the bus seat back 12 and bus seat cushion 14. It shouldbe noted that in one contemplated embodiment the foam 20 may beprecompressed to a predetermined compression and then have the trimcover 22, 24 arranged thereover to keep a firm but stable seatingsurface for the rider of the bus seat 10. The bus seat back trim cover22 is affixed over the frame 16 and cushion 20 and any sub framing ofthe bus seat back 12 and secured thereon.

The bus seat back trim cover 22 of the present invention includes azipper 26 arranged around the entire outer periphery of the bus seatback 12. The zipper 26 may allow for easy removal and installation ofthe bus seat back trim cover 22 within the bus environment. Therefore,the bus seat back trim cover 22 is a two piece trim cover 22 having afront portion and a back portion for the bus seat back 12. The method ofusing a two piece trim cover 22 is for belted seats or non belted seatsand greatly improves the installation and removal of the bus seat backtrim cover 22 via the zipper 26 connecting the front and back pieces ofthe seat back trim cover 22. It should be noted that in one contemplatedembodiment seat belt support members 28 may be arranged into the frontsurface of the seat back 12. The seat belt support members 28 createexit points in the front face of the seat back 12 which may increase thesupport for the front face reinforcements that are tailored to the trimcover and arranged within the frame 16 and sub framing 18 of the seatback 12. These parts that are manufactured into the frame 16 or subframe 18 of the seat back portion 12 do not require extra molded partsto be provided into the seat back 12 to create seat belt entry and exitpoints thus reducing costs for the bus manufacturers. It should furtherbe noted that the use of the zippered two piece removably seat back trimcover 22 may also yield savings over conventional methods because of theamount of vinyl or other material used to make the trim cover 22. In onecontemplated embodiment, at least a five percent cost savings may occuron the material used because of the zippered seat back trim cover 22. Itshould also be noted that the use of the two piece zippered seat backtrim cover 22 increases customer serviceability because the back surfaceof the seat 10, that generally sees the most damage from the occupantsof the bus, may be replaced by simply unzipping the trim cover backpiece 22 and replacing the back piece with a new back piece zipped ontothe front piece which may or may not need to be replaced. This mayreduce the service cycle time for maintaining and replacing the seatback trim covers 12 to approximately less than eight minutes in somecontemplated embodiments. The present invention also includes amethodology and apparatus for securing the zipper 26 to the front andback piece of the two piece seat back trim cover 22, which will bedescribed hereafter.

The bus seat cushion 14 uses a bus seat cushion trim cover 24 andarranges it over a foam 20 or other material arranged on the frame 16 orsub frame 18 of the bus seat cushion 14 seat portion. The cushion seattrim cover 24 may be secured over the bus seat cushion foam 20 and othercomponents via a plurality of J-retainer members 30. These J-retainermembers 30 generally may have a J-shaped when viewed in cross section.These J-retainer members 30 may have a predetermined length as shown inFIG. 4 or may be a plurality of smaller width J-retainers secured to anouter edge of the seat back trim cover 24. The J-retainers 30 aresecured to cover 24 via any known fastening method, such as any knownmechanical or chemical fastening technique. In one contemplatedembodiment, the J-retainers 30 are sewn via any known thread to theouter peripheral edge of the seat cushion trim cover 24. It should benoted that any other known fastening technique may also be used. TheJ-retainer members 30 may then be interengaged with and secured to asecuring bracket 32 either secured to a sub frame 18 or framing 16 ofthe bus seat cushion portion 14. In one contemplated embodiment, anL-bracket 32 is arranged around the entire outer periphery at or nearthe outer edge of the bus seat cushion portion 14. It should also benoted that in one contemplated embodiment, the L-bracket 32 or any othershaped bracket may be applied to the sub frame 18 such as that shown inFIG. 4. The sub frame 18 as shown in FIG. 4 may also include at leastone connector 34 that interacts and interengages with the frame 16 ofthe bus seat 10 to secure the bus seat cushion 14 in proper alignmentwith the bus seat back 12 when the bus seat 10 is completely assembled.The L-bracket 32 as shown in the Figures may interact with theJ-retainer 30 of the bus seat cushion trim cover 24 and secure the busseat cushion trim cover 24 to the bottom bus seat cushion portion 14 ofthe bus seat 10. The J-retainer 30 may interact or interengage with theL-bracket 32 to create a secure connection therebetween thus presentinga taught and neat appearance for the outer surface of the bus seatcushion trim cover 24. The J-retainers 30 generally are arranged aroundthe outer periphery of the bus seat cushion trim cover 24 and present anaesthetically pleasing look to the bus seat cushion 14 and bus seatoverall. It should be noted that in one contemplated embodiment theJ-retainer 30 and L-bracket 32 are made of a plastic material, howeverany other known material such as metal, composite, ceramic, or naturalmaterial may also be used for the J-retainer 30 and L-bracket 32 orother shaped brackets of the present invention. It should further benoted that any other known retainer 30 may also be used as long as itinteracts with the connecting bracket 32 arranged on the sub frame 18 orframe 16 of the bus seat cushion bottom portion 14. The use of theJ-retainer 30 with the bus seat cushion portion 14 of the bus seat 10may realize significant repeatability gains for the manufacturer. Thismay allow the assembler to connect the cover 24 without the need tocontrol the start and stop position of the J-retainers 30 because theyare generally affixed or secured to the L-bracket 32 that encompassesthe seat frame 16 or sub frame 18 of the bus seat 10 as described above.It should further be noted that serviceability is greatly improved withthe J-retainer 30 connected to the L-bracket 32 because of a reductionof service time to approximately three minutes to replace the bottomcushion seat trim cover 24. It should further be noted that materialsavings also apply for the cushion seat trim cover 24, such as that forthe back seat cover as described above, of approximately ten percentless material being needed with the use of J-retainers 30 and L-bracket32 system.

As described above, the two piece removable zippered seat back trimcover 22 is made with the use of an apparatus 40 that allows for thezipper 26 to be attached to both the front and back piece or portion ofthe bus seat trim cover 22 with reduced time and cost. One prior artmethod of creating or securing a zipper to a piece of material was tohave each zipper hand marked at a plurality of locations, i.e., thirtyto fifty five locations, on each side of the material, such that thezipper may be properly aligned to the zipper facing. Then each side ofthe zipper was tacked to the zipper facing, which would ensure eachnotch mark was aligned to the notches in the facing. Next, each side ofthe zipper facing was then carefully folded to the outside edge of thezipper and sewn down creating a fold hem on the facing. This process forcreating a zipper arranged between two pieces of material had eachzipper being sewn four times. Furthermore, it is also very difficult toalign the zipper facing with the edge of the zipper teeth. Also, becauseof the strength characteristics of zippers, it generally is very hard tomark each of the zippers in the exact same location, which results inmismatched corners when swapping different pieces of material having thezippers. The present invention creates a two piece removable zipperedbus seat back trim cover 22 via the use of a new sewing machineapparatus 40. The sewing machine apparatus 40 generally includes azipper folder 42 arranged adjacent to or generally near the needle 44 ofa sewing machine 46. It should be noted that any known sewing machine 46may be used to create the two piece removable seat back trim cover 22according to the present invention. In one contemplated embodiment, adouble needle sewing machine may be used. However, it is alsocontemplated to use a single needle machine or a multi-needle machine tocreate the zipper cover 22 depending on the design requirements. Thezipper folder 42 generally may have a body 48 which is secured to aplate 50 which is arranged on the sewing machine 46. It should also benoted that the zipper folder 42 may be secured directly to an uppersurface of the sewing machine 46. The zipper folder 42 generally mayhave a first and second curved surface or flange 52 that are arrangedback to back with one another and which may allow for the zipper ineither the front or back portion of the seat back trim cover 22 to bepassed therethrough and sewn by one of the two needles in the doubleneedle sewing machine 46. The curved flanges 52 of the zipper folder 42may have a predetermined arc or curve depending on the designrequirements of the bus seat back trim cover 22. It should be noted thatgenerally the zipper folder 42 is made of a metal material, however anyother plastic, composite, ceramic, or natural material may also be usedfor the zipper folder 42.

The sewing machine apparatus 40 also includes a pre-folder 54 arranged apredetermined distance from the needles 44 of the sewing machine 46 andthe zipper folder 42. The pre-folder member 54 generally has arectangular shape and includes a first and second channel 56 arrangedtherein. The first and second channels 56 are arranged a predetermineddistance apart from one another and generally have a J-shaped whenviewed from a front thereof. The curve of the J-shaped channels 56generally may coincide with the curves of the flanges 52 of the zipperfolder member 42. The J-channels 56 generally may be arranged near a topend of the pre-folder member 54. It should be noted that any other shapemay be used for the pre folder 54 or channels 56 other than those shownin the figures. The pre-folder member 54 also may include a generallyrectangular orifice 58 arranged below the J-shaped channels 56 of thepre-folder member 54. This rectangular orifice 58 passes through thewidth of the pre-folder member 54 and is used to pass the zipper 26through, after leaving a zipper tensioner 60, to the sewing machine 46.It should be noted that it is contemplated to use any other shapedorifice below the J-shaped channels in the pre-folder member 54.

The sewing machine apparatus 40 also includes a zipper tensioner 60which is arranged on a front face of the pre-folder member 54. Thezipper tensioner 60 generally is arranged on the front face of thepre-folder member 54 below the orifice 58 of the pre-folder member 54.The zipper tensioner member 60 when viewed from a side, generally has arectangular shape with a predetermined size flange 62 extendingtherefrom, which gives the zipper tensioner 60 a generally U-shape. Thezipper tensioner 60 also may include a plurality of orificestherethrough, through which a fastener 64 is arranged. In onecontemplated embodiment, the fastener 64 is a screw or the like whichhas a spring 66 arranged thereover such that the spring 66 is arrangedbetween an outer surface of the zipper tensioner 60 and the head of thefastener 64. The spring 66 allows for the zipper tensioner 60 to besecured to the pre-folder member 54 at a predetermined tension or with apredetermined force applied between the zipper tensioner 60 and thepre-folder member 54. By turning the fastener 64 it may increase and/ordecrease the force being applied by the spring 66 thus increasing ordecreasing the force between the pre-folder member 54 and the zippertensioner 60. The zipper tensioner 60 also may include a predeterminedshaped cutout or notch 68 arranged generally at a mid point thereof.This cutout or notch 68 generally is aligned with the mid point of thepre-folder member 54. The notch 68 may pass the zipper 26 therethroughthe orifice 58 of the pre-folder member 54 and up to the zipper folder42 and finally the needles such that the zipper 26 may be sewn to thefront and back portions of the seat back trim cover 22 according to thepresent invention. It should be noted that in one contemplatedembodiment a predetermined sized tensioning plug 70 is arranged withinthe notch 68 of the zipper tensioner 60 and may create the necessarytension on the zipper 26 as it passes through the pre-folder member 54and zipper folder 42 of the sewing machine apparatus 40 according to thepresent invention. The plug 70 generally may be made of any knownmaterial such as a rubber, plastic, natural material, metal, composite,ceramic or any other known material. The zipper tensioner 60 may allowfor the zipper 26 to be passed through at a predetermined tension thushaving the same tension being applied to the zipper 26 prior to itsattachment to either the front or back portion of the seat back trimcover 22. It should be noted that generally the pre-folder member 54 andzipper tensioner 60 are generally made of a metal material, however anyother known metal, ceramic, composite, natural material, plastic, or thelike may be used to create the pre-folder member 54 and the zippertensioner 60 according to the present invention. The pre folder member54 and zipper tensioner 60 may be secured to the zipper folder 42 by aconnector member, to a surface of the sewing machine 46, or any othercomponent or surface.

In operation, the methodology for connecting the zipper 26 to the twopiece removable seat back trim cover 22 is as follows. The pre-foldermember 54 and zipper tensioner 60 are attached to a surface or componenton which the sewing machine 46 is arranged or to the sewing machineitself. After the pre-folder member 54 and zipper tensioner 60 arearranged at a predetermined position and placed with relation to thesewing machine 46, each portion of the zipper 26 is hand marked in onelocation which may be used as a start point for the sewing operation.Next in the methodology, the zipper 26 and both the front and back trimcover portions 22 and/or faces may be fed through the zipper tensioner60 and the pre-folder member 54. This may pre-fold the front and backportions of the seat back trim cover 22 and put the appropriate tensionon the zipper 26 with relation to the front and back portions of theseat back trim cover 22. Next in the methodology, the front and backtrim cover 22 portions along with the pretensioned zipper 26 may bepassed through the zipper folder 42. Then both sides of the zipper 26and the seat back trim front and back portions 22 may be sewnsimultaneously by the double needled sewing machine 46. The result ofusing this methodology as described above is that each zipper 26 aresewn to the front and back portions, respectively, of the seat back trimcover 22 with the same amount of tension which ensures that the cornersalign when the back or front cover 22 alone are replaced on a bus seatback 12 or if two new pieces are replaced on the bus seat back 12.Furthermore, each zipper 26 may be processed, i.e., folded and hemmedwith only one sew rather than the four sews that was used on previousprior art processes to connect the two materials with a zippertherebetween. Furthermore, it should be noted that the folds and hemsare very consistent with no variation as both the pre-folder 54 andzipper folder 42 are used to ensure such uniformity. It should furtherbe noted that the start and stop location for the zipper 26 of the seatback trim cover 22 is generally arranged a predetermined distance fromthe end of the zipper 26 thus eliminating any stretch issues fromeffecting the zipper 26 and operation of the zipper 26 duringinstallation of the seat back trim cover 22. In one contemplatedembodiment, the start/stop location may be arranged approximately 115millimeters from each end of the zipper 26. It should be noted that anyother location may also be used ranging anywhere from one millimeter tohundreds of centimeters from the end of the bus seat back trim coverportions 22. It should be noted that any known zipper 26 may be usedwith the present invention, such as any known metal, plastic, composite,natural material zipper or the like.

The present invention has been described in an illustrative manner. Itis to be understood that the terminology which has been used is intendedto be in the nature of words of description rather than that oflimitation.

Many modifications and variations of the present invention are possiblein light of the above teachings. Therefore, within the scope of theappended claims, the present invention may be practiced otherwise thanas specifically described.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of covering a seat back of a bus seat,said method comprising the steps of: placing a first seat back coverwith a zipper over a portion of the bus seat back; aligning a secondseat back cover with a zipper to said first seat back cover; and zippingsaid first seat back cover to said second seat back cover.
 2. The methodof claim 1 further comprising the step of aligning said first seat backcover with seat belt support members.
 3. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising the step of arranging a foam material over a frame of the busseat.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein said zipper is arranged around anentire outer periphery of said first seat back cover and said secondseat back cover.
 5. The two piece seat back cover used in the method ofclaim 1.